Process of rendering mineral substances available as fertilizers by aid of fermentation.



G. F. LAWTON. PROCESS OF RENDERING MINERAL SUBSTANCES AVAILABLE AS FBRTILIZERS BY AID 0F 1 FERMB NTATIO N.

APPLICATION TILED SEPT. 14; 1911.

Patented June 11, 1912.

i EN N 1 1 Inventor:

Itc'st 12/ f i recesses.

.crmnnns r. Lawton, or new.

, I roux, N. Y.

To all-whom it concern:

. Be it known-that I, CHARLES F. LAWTON,

- at-citizen of the United States, and a resi- Y dent of Brooklyn borough, city and State of ew- York, have invented a certain new and useful Process of Rendering Mineral Substances Available as Fertilizers by Aid pf Fermentation, of which the following is 'a specification.

Plant-food, as is well known, consists to a considerable extent, of potash, phosphorus, I nitrogen, carbon, and various other chemicals most of which are found in nature, bound up in mineralformation, and it is i 15. also well known that the process .by which these materials are set free in the soil,-under the action of rain, is veryslow, so much so, that in most agricultural districts, what are known as commercial fertilizers, are required, in order to supply to the growing plants the necessary amount of the above 1 mentioned constituents of plant-food.

The object of my invention is to treat i minerals such as feldspar, granite, basalt, trap-rock and other rocks containing fertilizing elements, by an artificial process somewhat akin to that of nature-by which the p said minerals are sufficiently dissolved to give up or convert into more available form, the food elements, such as potash, phosphorus, and so-forth, whereby a more natural and better fertilizer can be produced than the so-called commercial fertilizers in which i the disintegration of the potash compounds and other "minerals, containing fertilzing elements, is brought about by thev application of chemicals chiefiy 'of an vacid or a caustic character; p l

The first step of my process, consists in 40 preparing the mineral substances for mixture. with the organic substances which I afterward employ. This preparation consists broadly in reducing the minerals to a powder, not necessarily fine, but say about- 4.5.60 mesh. ;I have found that'first heating the mineral substances to red heat, and then suddenly chilling them by immersion in coldwater, renders them more easily crushable and therefore to do so,- is of advantage, but

is not necessary to carry out my new process.

.7 The powdered mineral substances are to j be mlxed with organic matter, such as straw, leaves, marsh-grown plants, manure, garbage, sewage or other organic materials in YORKQN. Y.; ASSIGNOR'TO F. w. HUES'TIS, or NEW rnocnss or animnnme' MHIEBAL suns'raucns AVAILABLE-LS rnntriniznas BY arn or rnnmnnra'rron.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 11113 11, 1912 Application filed September 14, 1911. Serial No. 649,361

the character of the organic matter employed, and the refractoriness of the minerals employed. The object of this mixture, as will subsequently appear, is to produce sufiicient fermentation therein to render,

substantially all of the fertilizing material available as plant food and this requires the presence of a suflicient amount of moisture, and reasonable access of the air. Unless the organicmat-ter, therefore, contains sufiicient moisture to saturate the minerals and thus render the entlre'mixture moist,

water should be added. It is important that free moisture should not be present to any special degree as the mixture must not be is desired at the start in which case the tem- {perature can be raised artificially to between 80 and 90 degrees as soon as the mixture is made without waiting for natural. fermentation to reach that; point. After this vigorous fermentation is once started,

no further heat wili be" required and the fermentation process will continue of itself until the mass has reached the condition in which practically all the plant food has been converted or rendered available and this will take from three to six weeks.

It will thus be seenthat my process consists in bringing aquantity of pulverized mineral substances and a quantity of or-; ganic matter, in a condition ready to decay, together and maintainin but not wet mixture, su ciently 0 en to be them in moi st,

aerated by the surrounding air until the fertilizing elements therein contained have been rendered available for plant consumption.

N 0 special apparatus or machinery is re-- quired for carrying out this process, but I have shown in the accompanying drawing,

what'I consider a convenient formof tank house, for this purpose; the same being in cross section.

proportions'which. will vary largely with I A is concrete .foundation provided with a drain channel f, through'which any surplus water may be drawn off, and through which also if desired, liquid may befed to the mixture from below. The side walls B, B, for the height of several feet, are preferably of concrete or brick and provided with numerous openings d, (Z, provided for the purpose of admitting air or steam into the mixture. Above this cement or brick structure is mounted a suitable shed C of wood or other desired material, and made high enough to permit of proper manipulation of the pipes which may be used to supply air or heat to the'mixture from above.

D is a mixture of powdered mineral matter and organic matter from which the fertilizer is tobe obtained by fermentation. In treating-this mixture, it is not my intention to agitate the mass, but rather, to raise it to a temperature in the neighborhood of 90 degreesFah'renheit, at which point vigorous fermentation takes place. TlllS temperature will normally be maintained bythe ferment= ing action itself afteronce thoroughly started, but in case from any cause, the

- fermentation slackens in any portion of the mass, it is necessary "to stimulate it.

To enable myself to do so easily, I provide a pipe I), laid lengthwise of the tank and preferably ina non-heat-conducting box, and it is provided at intervals along its length with stop-cocks or valves to which the pipe 7), [7, may be attached. Th1s pipe is suspended in any convenient way, by cords 0, 0,- tda runway m, at the top of the tank so that it can be shifted lengthwise of the tank "as desired. The tank will preferably be from one hundred to two hundred feet in length and by slipping this pipe along the runway, it may be brought over any portion of the mixture D, which may requirejattention. The pipe p, p, is made of rubber or other flexible material, and carries. at the outer end, a pointed tube or long nozzle 8,

which may be of iron, the pointed end easilyv I penetrating the mixture from above.

In order to find out whether any ortion of the mixture is too hot or too cool, prefer to use a thermometer attached to a pointed holder so that it may easily be pushed down into the mixture by handi If, on withdrawing the thermometer, I. find that the temperature is too low, or too high, I insert the tube 8, and then pump in steam or hot or cold air according to whether the temperature should be raised or lowered. It may also be useful to have a number ofsteam pipes, e, e, arranged at the bottom of the mixture along the floor of the tank, whereby the mass may be moistened, aerated or heated when desired.

The preliminary heating of the mineral to redness, and sudden cooling, not only render the rock very easily pulverized, to

such degree of fineness, as may be desired,

but render the silica-of the compound silicates of which the rock maybe composed more readily separated from the potash, and other bases with which it is compounded, becoming gelatinous or hydrated silica. This separation is brought about by the action of carbonic acid, moisture and air in the fermenting tank. As the mineral when ground, requires considerable moisture for thorough mixing with the organic matter, it should be wet down before mixing unless the organic matter contains an ex cess of moisture as for instance, in the case of sewage.

v The proportions of organic matter, and ground mineral, which are bestsuited to such fermenting as will decompose all the mineral, vary, naturally within wide limits, according to the quality of the organic matter used. Also to some extent, with the heat, moisture and amount of air, employed in fermenting the mixture. Also, but to'a less extent, on the character of the mineral used.

In a general way, however, it might be safe to say that if we reckon all the mgredients except the water, 25% of organic matter would be ample.

As the alkalis of the powdered rock, are

in much less percentage than the silica, and other constituents, the amount of carbonic acid necessary to be evolved, from the moist fermenting mixture to disintegrate chemically, the mineral contents is relatively small, and the silica, when thus loosened from the complex combinations in which the alkalis form the important link, becomes available as food, for such plants as grasses, in which silica, is demanded for vigorous growth. The alkaline carbonate produced in the fermenting mass, and the azo-humic I acidsproduced by the decay of the organic matter, render the silica soluble even in pure water, while the alkalis as carbonate,

are themselves made soluble by the carbonic acid evolved, in the contents of the fermenting tank, in the presence of air and moisture.

As before stated, this fermentation and I breaking down of the mineral combinations and organic structure, will go on naturally, under. proper conditions of access of air and moisture, without the application of artificial heat and will continue until substantially all the mineral composition is broken down. But it is advisable to start this fermentation rapidly by raising the temperature of the mass through artificial means to the necessarypoint for vigorous fermentation, and in case of slackening from any cause, to maintain said heat, as other wise the product of the operation may not be perfect, owing to differences of temperature and hence irregularities in chemical action at different places throughout the mass. After the mixture has been thus reduced to a condition suitable for use as a fertilizer, it

can be packed in barrels or other packages,

or shipped in bulk to the points of distribution.

I claim 1. A process of rendering mineral substances available as fertilizers, .by aid of fer-- mentation, which consists first in reducing said mineral substances to powder,-second,

in mixing the same with a suitable quantityof fermentable organic matter in the presence of water, third, in raising the temperature of the mixture to the fermenting point,v and continuing the fermenting by access of air and by the occasional regulating of temperature, moistureand air supply, as may be required, until said mixture has become practically decomposed.

2. A process of rendering mineral substances available as fertilizers, by aid of fermentation, which consists first in reducing said mineral substances to powder, second in mixing the same with a suitable quantity of fermentable organic matter in the presence of Water, third in raising the temperature ofsthe mixture to the fermenting point, andallowing the fermentation to go on with access of air, until said mixture is practically decomposed.

3. In a process for making the alkalis phosphates and silica in minerals soluble to serve as fertilizers mixing the finelypowdered mineral with fermentable organic matter moisture and air and then inducing a regulated fermentation of the mixture.

4. In a process for rendering the fertilizing constituents of minerals assimilable by plants the method of mixing the powdered mineral with fermentable organic matter and then fermenting the mixture by regulating, the heat, moisture and air so as to promote the most rapid decomposition of both the organic matter and the mineral;

O. F. LAWTON.

Witnesses:

LILLIVAN E. LINDQUIST, W. P. PREBLE, Jr. 

